Recipe: Boozie's apple cake

Note: This is a favorite recipe of Barbara Spencer from Windrose Farm. It is adapted from Margaret S. Fox's "Cafe Beaujolais" cookbook. By the way, Fox says "Boozie" is the name of a friend's grandmother; the recipe contains no alcohol.

1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons cinnamon

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 cups brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup corn oil

4 cups apples, unpeeled, cored and cut into 1/2-inch cubes

Powdered sugar for dusting

1. Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Place the walnuts on a jellyroll pan and bake until they taste toasty, 10 to 15 minutes. Check them by eating one. To remove the brown skin, put the baked nuts in a sieve or strainer and shake them. The brown stuff will fall off. Alternatively, you can rub them in a towel.

2. Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. In a mixing bowl, blend the beaten eggs, white sugar, brown sugar, vanilla and corn oil with one-fourth cup water until the ingredients are just combined. Then stir in the flour mixture and toasted nuts. When thoroughly blended, add the apples and stir.

3. Pour the batter into a greased 9-by-13-inch baking pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry, 60 to 70 minutes. The cake will appear moist but not wet. Cut the cake for serving and sprinkle each slice with powdered sugar.